Chapter 6 is finally up! It's been quite a while, as I was sidetracked a little by some other ideas, but I'm back! This chapter was supposed to be dedicated entirely to Percy and Grover, as they were neglected for three whole chapters, however, I ran out of things to write for Grover and Percy was not cooperative, so I moved the first half of what was supposed to be chapter 7 up. It actually fits with the chapter title, so I think it's fine as it is. Enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise, especially the characters in the story. I just used names that came to me. I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, Jumong, Ranger's Apprentice, Beyonders, Dormia, Lord of the Rings, Kingdom Hearts, Avengers, Eragon and Google Translate(I used that to generate family names)
Summary: Almost everyone knew that the person sitting on the throne does not belong there. They did nothing, though. Everyone heard of the rebellion that has happened and failed. And everyone knew what happened to those that joined. Perhaps they knew not who was the leader and what happened to the person, but they knew enough to know that joining the second wave, led by a successor, is dangerous - you only join if it's the last option. This time, though, it was not just straightforward swords, spears, shields, arrows and democratics. This time, unseen, other forces were gathering too. A storm was imminent - and if the throne is not returned to its rightful owner, it would grow to become a hurricane no one would survive.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Chapter 6: Rescue Missions
"...A small part of Percy's brain told him that he should walk away from this when he still can and stay out of the mess that this whole thing is promising to become. He ignored it."
The first thing the girl asked him was, "Why are you still here?"
A little confused, Percy thought that she must have mistaken him for someone else. So he told her that he was just passing by, that he would not be staying.
She looked at him a little flatly. "Anyone knows that if you do not just 'pass by' this village if you are a male above the age of fifteen. Besides, we were just 'passing by' too, and look what happened to us."
"Us?"
"The four of us. The girl who knocked you over?"
'Oh,' Percy thought. 'That one. But...' Aloud, he asked, "If they were four of you, then why was she the only one? And why are you alone?"
She quieted for a while. "Hylla and Carter were both taken already. Sadie was found when we were trying to get Hylla and Carter out. So it's just me now."
"Why aren't you trying to help them, then? And why are you telling me this? We've only just met, and I don't even know your name."
"For a stranger, you have a lot of questions." She sounded amused. "I'm eight and while I know how to fight well enough, there's no way I could get all three of them out of jail. Besides, I trust them to be able to get themselves out, the three of them are good at this."
After a pause, she continued, "And I tell you this because you are obviously clueless, seen in that you did not get up and start running the moment you were knocked over and seen by those villagers, so you would probably like a warning. They might ignore you if you were a girl, but you are a boy, so after they got Sadie, they would start looking for you. Think of this as an apology for Sadie knocking you over and letting you be seen in the first place."
Percy blinked. "Why would I need to start running?"
Reyna sighed, as if saying, "See what I mean?" In the back of his mind, Percy could not help noticing how for an eight year old, Reyna behaved like she was the older one here - patronising and treating him like a child. "The newest law passed down says that any male between age fifteen and twenty-nine from the few highlighted village would have to serve in the army for Royaume for at least twelve years, total. A few of the boys from this village have bolted, so they are taking whoever they could to fill replace the missing people. Any boys not accounted for by their parents would be taken. And you are wandering around here alone."
On his part, Percy was shocked. His father could not have passed a law like that, could he? Jupiter was a just person, he would not do things like this. 'Desperate people do desperate things,' nagged a voice at the back of his head. Jupiter had not been on good terms with the Royaume officials and there had been threats of a war breaking out a while back. It disappeared mysteriously, though, and Percy had never wondered much about why. 'Don't think too much into it,' Percy decided.
He settled for asking, "There's another reason you approached me, right?"
There was only a slight change in her expression when she was called out. Pursing her lips a little, she looked down for a while, contemplating something, before she asked, "Do you know how to fight?"
Surprised, Percy looked at her. "Well, I know the theory behind fighting and how to handle each weapon… Why is it important?"
"I know I said I trust them to be able to get themselves out of jail, but it is better to get them out earlier, as the deadline is nearing and the people here are getting desperate. I can't do this alone, and you could get in there without being called out of it. It's not that hard, all you need to do is get in."
Seeing Percy's disbelief, she hurriedly amended, "Well, it would not be all you need to do, but…"
Percy did not have the heart to tell her that he wanted to go home. For all he knew, those people were her family and she had just lost all three of them in one go. Besides, if what she said was correct, then those villagers would be after him anyway, so she was right in saying that it would not be hard for him to get captured. Getting out is the problem, but he could trust her in saying that it would not be that hard, right?
"...He pushed down on it."
Nothing happened. Then, silently, the carving of the man holding the Trident rotated, flipping around to reveal a carving of a seven flowers growing on a stalk. There was nothing special about it, unless you count the fact that all of them were facing the same direction. Grover let out a huff of frustration. He was so sure that this was it!
They stared at it for a while after that. There was no change. The light streaming in illuminated the tip of the top flower. Kira was frowning a little at the thing.
"What are you two looking at?" Came the ever familiar voice of Hercules.
"There's a carving here," Grover told him, eyes on the floor now. A little nervously, he added, "But there does not seem to be anything special about it except for the fact that it the wall it was carved on can rotate itself." Daring a glance up, he noticed, in the corner of his vision, the expression on Kira's face. It disappeared almost immediately, however, for a split second, there was alarm and dismay. 'What was that?' Grover wondered.
"It can rotate? Then it's hollow!" Triton's eyes gleamed. "Well, we'll just break it down! There could be a passageway behind this thing."
"Wait," Hercules warned, "you should not be so brash."
"The trident could be right behind this wall! We need to break it down."
"With what?" Kira asked. Triton studied their supplies and the wall thoughtfully. His expression soured.
"I suppose we'll have to get more tools." With that, he strode towards the mouth of the cave, expecting the others to follow. Hercules did, after a sigh and a shake of his head.
Kira glanced at Grover once before following the two of them out. Grover looked at the carving with a little hesitance. Now that he was alone, he felt a little uneasy. As if he had done something wrong, by telling Triton and Hercules about the carving. He shook it off when Triton called for him to follow.
Waiting near the entrance of the village according to the plan, Percy was starting to reevaluate his life decisions. Especially the decision to help the girl. The nameless girl. Why didn't he think to ask her for her name? At least he could spend this time trying to figure out exactly who she was, she looked a little familiar. Now he was standing, waiting to be found, ready to start running. The only thing he had right now was a sketchy plan that might fall through at any moment and the word of a stranger that she would not let him fail. He was armed with only a small bottle filled with a mixture designed to make everyone feel drowsy. He only had her word that the concoction would work.
He was tempted to quit and leave. There was a chance he could get away from all this.
'But I promised,' Percy thought. He sighed internally. He hated breaking his promises.
The moment he was spotted by one of the villagers, he took off for the plains outside the village, making his way to the next. The villager took the bait, yelling for the others to help. The chase was over far too quickly, ending when Percy was knocked out by something thrown at his head.
Grover looked around, trying to spot Percy as they walked back. Rationally, he knew that this is place you cannot be found in if you got lost, however, he still hoped to find his best friend. Deep inside, he still hoped to be able to find his friend blundering towards them, although rationally he knew that once you get lost in a place like this, you do not simply get found again. Kira had ignored Grover completely. Hercules seemed to be occupied with memorising landmarks and Triton was carving marks to help lead them back to the cave. The company travelled in silence back to the palace.
When they reached the palace, Kira and Grover were dismissed as the two princes went to talk to their father. When the two of them were out of sight and hearing, Kira asked Grover, "Do you even have any idea what you did when you told them about that? Triton's going to destroy that cave trying to find the trident. That carving was a clue, and Triton's going to ruin it." He closed his eyes for a while. He sounded resigned when he opened his eyes and cautioned Grover, "Next time, think before you talk."
Grover watched him leave. Then, he turned to look at the path they had came from, wondering exactly what was the clue in the carving.
Percy woke up with a start. He could not quite remember what happened in his dream to make him so unsettled, but it did not matter much right now. His head hurts. For a moment, he had no idea what was going on, then he remembered the thing hitting his head and all the events leading up to it. He winced as he put his hand to the place where the bump is. Then he sat up and looked around, intending to find the people he was here for.
It was easier than he expected, since there were only about five cells in the shed-like hut and only three other was occupied. There were two girls and a boy other than him. Patting his pocket, he realised that they had not searched him. Making sure the guard was not paying attention, he slipped the bottle through the bars into the cell next to his - the one occupied by the other boy, Carter. "Hey," he hissed, capturing Carter's attention.
Carter looked at him, then at the bottle lying there. He looked at the guard once, then, cautiously, scooted closer, scooped the bottle up and examined it. Eyeing the guard once more, he moved even closer and looked nonchalant as he whispered out of the corner of his mouth "Where did you get this from?" He whispered.
"Reyna gave it to me, she said it would-"
"-put people to sleep," Carter finished for him. He looked at the guard again. He was clearly thinking of something. He then shifted back to his original spot.
Percy was a little confused when Carter still sat there and did nothing even after quite some time has passed. Deciding that staring at Carter was suspicious, he settled down in a comfortable position and resigned himself to waiting for whatever Carter was waiting for.
Leo's thoughts were chasing each other around in circles. They were not getting anywhere. He was starting to regret not listening to his parents and staying out of dangerous 'adventures'. He was also a little annoyed.
He did not get to investigate that cracked ice. Although he could conclude that this unknown boy was the cause, it only generated more questions. For example, why was the boy even out there in the first place? Also, how long had he been there? Surely his parents could not have left him there to freeze to death on his own. Even if they had, how did they get him there, with a wolf to top it off? A wolf who was sitting there, on guard and giving him a look that told him it would kill him if he so much as looked at the boy the wrong way. Which does not make sense on so many levels, as wolves are not supposed to be sentient. Even if they were, there was no possible way for him, Leo Valdez Beckendorf, apprentice to the best blacksmith in the land, be able to understand wolves. It is just not logically possible. He was starting to question logic, though, since he was equally as sure that blizzards were not meant to occur so suddenly and the other side of the Wall was not meant to be inhabitable.
Stop it, he told himself silently. Think straight. If this boy was strong enough to survive on the wrong side of the Wall, then he must be either a Royaume personnel or an important person from Fiamme di Guerra. That was the only possible way he could have been trained well enough to tough it out on his own. Whichever case it was, he should have been reported when he went missing and Leo would have heard of him at some point of time or the other. Which led to him realising that he did not know the other boy's name.
He cleared his throat to get the boy's attention and almost wilted under the look he was given, but he smiled and introduced himself. The boy told him that he was called "Nico", which confused Leo a little more. It did not sound much like a name of someone from Royaume and it sounded even less like a name of someone from Fiamme di Guerra. Well, there was an exception to every rule, of course. So he repeated it back, hoping that he could get a little more from the boy in the room with him. The boy who was not paying any attention to him.
He had confirmed that 'Nico' was his name a little absentmindedly while something like worry flitted across his face. Oh, right. He was hurt. Remembering the lessons he had taken from Rachel on how to treat wounds, he decided to help the boy. He did not expect Nico to react the way he did when he took hold of the boy's arm to see exactly how much damage was done to it. It actually made him firmer in his belief that the boy was trained for combat and was likely raised in the military environment.
After all, when someone touches you, a normal person's first instinct would not be to reach for empty air somewhere in a fluid and practiced motion, as if reaching for a weapon that was not there. He froze then, his eyes flicking up to meet Leo's. There was defiance there, as if daring Leo to point out the problem. He behaved a little like a cornered animal. The wolf, sitting passively moments before, had crouched down, hackles up and glaring at him.
Leo was pretty sure animals were not supposed to be capable of glaring.
The standoff lasted for a while, before the wolf stood down, well, sat down, and started grooming. The tension stopped running as high, which was quite a relief for Leo. He was not accustomed to people quite like the kid he was facing now. Nico looked down next, holding his arm out for Leo. Accepting the truce of sorts, Leo was ready to help him clean it out when he realised that the only source of water he had was the waterskin he left behind on the caravan.
He settled for wrapping it up with a strip of cloth first, focusing on making sure the task was completed to perfection. Then, he asked, a little tentatively, if there were anyone waiting for him. Leo suspected that the answer would be no, and his prediction came true when Nico looked at him a little blankly before answering that he had no one to go back to as of now.
He proposed for Nico to come with him to their caravan. The leader would probably curse him out silently, but his request would not be denied, since he was the son of their ruler of sorts, after all. Besides, they were not cold hearted people and Nico looked helpless enough. Honestly, he actually looked a little fragile, like he would break easily and was on the brink of fainting and collapsing.
Not that he was going to tell the boy that, of course. He had no intentions of finding out just how lethal the boy was.
As Nico made sure that the door was closed properly behind him, he tried to figure out the other boy's motives. Why would he help someone he picked up on the wrong side of the Wall? Which brought his thoughts back to why, exactly, was the boy on the wrong side of the Wall. Lupa nudged him and he realised, with a jerk, that the other boy was already quite a distance away and was currently waiting for him to catch up.
He fell into step behind Leo and followed him as they picked their way across the ruins of Olympus, towards the caravan, wherever it was. Nico wondered if Apollo's group or the NightWatch was still around, although he knew it was unlikely. They had duties, better things to do than search for him, especially if they were not even sure if he could be found without them losing even more of their people. He was just one person.
Leo led him to the edge of Olympus, next to the mountain range. They trekked through one of the pine forests surrounding the base of the mountain and arrived at a campsite. There was a few caravans parked at the side of the site. The moment he arrived, Leo was grabbed by a girl who seemed to be telling him off. She was joined by two others. Apparently, he was supposed to have been back quite a while ago. Nico observed the scene quietly, moving to blend in with the shadows, as was his habit.
He was looking at the tents pitched in the area, trying to figure out which one Leo was probably assigned to, when he felt people watching him. It was unnerving, to look back and realise that three girls were staring at him. They were looking at him with a little pity, as if he had nowhere to go to. Which was, in a sense, true, as there was no way he could make his way home in this condition. That did not mean that he needed, or wanted, their pity. Defensively, he raised his chin slightly and Lupa bared her teeth a little, moving closer to him. His eyes flicked over to where Leo was, wondering what, exactly, did Leo tell the girls.
Leo grinned then, looking slightly nervous. "Um, Nico, we would need to talk to the leader if you want to stay here," he said as he moved over and took his hand, a little gingerly. As if he was afraid that Nico would react badly. Nico wanted to growl at him. He did not need to be treated like a wounded, cornered and scared animal.
I know that I should have updated sooner, but I was kind of distracted by some other projects. There's "There's Someone Outside The Window", which I finished and posted, but there would be other long projects that would have around 17 chapters or so. So, I can only guarantee 1 update/month, of course, I may update more if inspiration strike and I have the time. Please review and let me know how I've done so far!
